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Blinding Knife
This article is about the weapon. For the second novel in the series, see ''The Blinding Knife''. The Blinding Knife is a weapon of unknown origin and use, but seems to have an effect on the drafting ability of those it cuts. Its appearance is that of a small ornate dagger made of an unknown material, seemingly a combination of white and black metals woven together to form the blade. The hilt of the dagger is ornamented with seven crystal clear diamonds. The Black Prism The Blinding Knife was given to Kip Guile by his mother Lina just before her death. She gave him the knife in a small rosewood box, which Kip took with him during his escape from the massacre at Rekton. Kip had the knife in his possession for only a short time, as it was taken from him by Rask Garadul in negotiations for Kip's life with Gavin Guile. The knife is not seen again until the end of the battle at Garriston, when Zymun attempts to use the knife to stab Gavin Guile in the back. He seems to succeed partially, nicking Gavin with the blade before he is tackled off the barge by Kip, saving Gavin and recovering the Blinding Knife. Kip notices the knife is now slightly larger and even more ornate, with one of the diamonds on its hilt now turned a brilliant blue color. The next morning, Prism Gavin Guile wakes up to find he is not only unable to draft Blue, but only sees blues as shades of grey. The Blinding Knife Kip keeps his possession of the Blinding Knife a secret, bringing it with him to the Chromeria while keeping it hidden as best he can. When Kip goes to see Janus Borig, worrying she may be in danger, he finds her heavily injured and her home ransacked by two Shadows of the Order of the Broken Eye. Kip manages to fight and kill the female Shadow Niah before engaging in a fight with Vox, her male counterpart. During the fight Kip stabs Vox with the Blinding Knife, though the dagger does not appear to harm him. Despite the apparent lack of physical harm, Kip notices a second diamond on the hilt of the blade has turned to a dull green color, and when Vox attempts to draft green he finds he is unable to do so, just before Kip shots Green Luxin through his chest, killing him. After the fight against Atirat and the Green Bane during the battle of Ru, while riding aboard a ship back to the Jaspers Kip figures out Andross Guile has broken the halo and become a Red Wight. Kip attempts to stab Andross with the Blinding Knife, but Grinwoody intervenes, causing Kip's slash to only just barely cut Andross. Gavin joins the scuffle, causing a four-way scramble for the blade. Seeing the only way to save Kip is to direct the blade into his own body, Gavin takes the Blinding Knife straight through his chest. The dagger begins to grow while still in Gavin's body, gradually expanding from a large dagger to a full-sized scimitar gun-sword, with all seven of the diamonds on the hilt now filled with bright colors, one for each of the seven primary drafting colors. Gavin stumbles over the railing of the boat, falling into the Cerulean Sea, with Kip jumping in after him. Kip and Gavin are picked up by Gunner, who takes Gavin and the Blinding Knife, tossing Kip back into the water. The Broken Eye The Blinding Knife, after being stabbed into Gavin Guile and taking his drafting abilities, has transformed into a large gun-sword, with functioning pistols attached to the hilt. Now in the hands of Gunner, he discovers the pistols fire bullets made of an unknown material, which seems to magically appear in the barrel when they are fired. The pistols do require gunpowder to fire, but otherwise seem to have limitless ammo. When Gavin and the rest of the galley slaves overthrow Gunner in the midst of a battle, Gavin takes the Blinding Knife as his portion of the loot, planning to study the blade to see if he can find a way to regain his powers. He attempts to stab himself with the weapon to see if he can restore his lost powers, but only manages to cut himself in the chest. When Gavin attempts to escape the ship to avoid capture, he leaves the blade with the prophet Orholam, asking him to return it later. The Blood Mirror The Blinding Knife winds up back in the hands of Gunner, who trades the blade for a beautiful ship constructed with Yellow Luxin built into the hull called the Golden Mean. When Gavin is released from the Black Luxin prison by Grinwoody, the older man gives him the Blinding Knife, instructing him to go with Gunner on his ship to White Mist Reef and use the weapon to kill Orholam, or whatever representation of magic happens to reside there. The Burning White When Gavin arrives on White Mist Reef he takes the Blinding Knife with him on his pilgrimage to the top of the Tower. Upon reaching the leap of faith on the top floor, Gavin tosses the Blinding Knife up onto the roof to use for whatever he finds up there. After Gavin's scuffle with Orholam and subsequent conversation, Gavin uses the Blinding Knife, now stabbed into the roof of the Tower, to draft the Black Luxin covering the Tower, sending an enormous wave of Black Luxin towards the Chromeria. He later uses the blade to draft White from the Tower, sending White Luxin towards the Chromeria as well. Upon leaving the Tower Gavin takes the Blinding Knife to the Chromeria just in time to toss it into the hands of Karis during her fight with Koios, who stabs the knife through her brother's chest. The Blinding Knife absorbs all of the Luxin out of Koios' body, taking away his drafting ability and killing the wight, who had used Luxin of various colors to reconstruct much of his body. After the battle at the Jaspers is concluded, the Blinding Knife is returned to the Chromeria to study and to attempt to reclaim the many uses of the weapon. Uses The Blinding Knife is one of the more mysterious items in the Seven Satrapies, and is extremely sought after by those who know what it is capable of. Initially the Blinding Knife seems to be able to absorb the drafting ability of those it cuts, taking away their ability to draft. It seems the knife must make a deeper wound to absorb multiple colors, as evidenced in its use against Gavin Guile. When Gavin is first cut with the blinding knife he only takes a small cut, and so only loses access to one color - Blue. However, when Gavin took the blade full in the chest and it remained there, the blade grew quickly in size and absorbed all seven of his drafting colors. The primary use of the Blinding Knife is to create Prisms. This is accomplished by killing enough drafters to fill the seven diamonds on the hilt with each color, then transferring the full powers of the blade to the Prism Elect by unknown means. It's possible the blade is also able to transfer other abilities, such as Lightsplitting and Superchromacy, as every Prism is able to split light after becoming the Prism. The Blinding Knife appears to have the ability to restore the halo on those who have broken it, reverting wights back to normal drafters. This is first demonstrated when Kip cuts Andross with the Blinding Knife, which restores his halos back to those of a drafter with about 10 year of drafting left. After receiving the White's secret notes Karris learns much about the Blinding Knife and it's many uses, clarifying much of the mystery surrounding the weapon. It is revealed the Blinding Knife is actually one of a set, having been created by unknown means many years ago. The blade is formed of a combination of White and Black Luxin, which is able remove and bestow drafting abilities. All of the other Blinding Knives were lost over the years, with the last known blade being lost by the real Gavin Guile during the Prism's war.